Schools Similar to Vandy

bernie12
Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:07:10 +0000

Actually, seems like Vandy intro. courses are quite large (from what I saw via enrollment data, they are nearly as large as Tech’s at least in the life sciences; physics and math are huge at Tech. Tech has many more profs per course whereas Vandy will have less and it equals out), the only problem is Tech’s physics and math courses are extremely intense (this includes non-intro. math courses which are still huge) with consideration of the size of the sections and it can be difficult to merely pass those classes because of it. The grading curve is also significantly harsher.
However, Vandy bio classes for example look much harder (I’ve seen a Tech intro. bio exam and a Vandy intro. bio exam, and despite similar class sizes, Vandy kills Tech which resorts to co-instruction and multiple choice exams. I would hope that Vandy has better teaching to compensate, b/c it was pretty bad in Tech bio). Regardless of the differences or similarities, your daughter should do (or should be hopefully doing) well at Tech. It’s a tough, but rewarding environment. Many of my friends are doing very well in their BME program despite those tough frosh weedout courses.